Environment

At the end of this year, the countries of the world will meet in Paris under the auspices of the United Nations in a make or break effort to curb global warming by reaching a binding agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The preparatory COP 20 conference was held last month in Lima, broadly analogous…

Europe’s “fresh start” under the Juncker Presidency has already run into opposition from MEPs. A draft document leaked to the press last week shows that key EU environmental proposals on clean air, waste and recycling (the so-called ‘circular economy’), and stronger protection for pregnant workers had been ‘discontinued’. This week the European Commission publicly adopted…

Seasonally daft and seasonally sobering news from the TUC’s latest Greenworkplaces newsletter. First up is Prospect’s new A-Z Guide to a Sustainable Christmas, a light hearted look at Christmas through a sustainability lens…..and with a fair amount of poetic licence. It’s full of useful advice on reducing seasonal waste (or “waist”) and energy consumption. Just…

In solidarity and shared purpose, the international trade union delegation and its Peruvian hosts worked their socks off inside the Lima climate conference. Outside it, the Peoples Summit enriched the city centre, and 20,000 marched on the UN for climate justice. But the conference itself largely turned its back on civil society, with governments failing…

The Spectator magazine recently held an energy event called The UK Domestic Energy Landscape: Fixing Britain’s Energy Market, hosted at the offices of the law firm Eversheds. Carbon Brief reported that it “was best summed up” by one of their partners Marcus Trinick who said: “There is no such thing as objective truth in energy…

Here at #COP20 in Lima, the UN’s current negotiating text ignores the realities of the world of work. Inexplicably, the UN has omitted previously agreed text on securing a Just Transition to a low carbon world. Today, the ITUC backed by trade unions from around the globe are calling a press conference to set out…

Here at COP20 in Lima, the union observer camp was mightily relieved to hear an EU delegate acknowledging their agreement with a key part of our own lobbying by saying: “We propose a reference to the social and employment dimension of the transition towards a low carbon society: the need for just transition.” We look…

What trade unions are basically looking for here at #COP20 in Lima is union recognition, and with that, the right to represent our members. In a sense this is no more complicated than any struggle be it among contract cleaners, cinema workers, or in the civil service for the basic right to representation – for…

The #1 objective of the ITUC delegation here in Lima is to ensure the UN honours its commitment to a Just Transition in the negotiating text now in draft form. The UN first made this decision five years ago this month in Cancun. Back then, the 16th annual UN climate conference (COP 16) adopted the…

This was no budget for a green economy. There’s no notion of how the Chancellor’s infrastructure plans or business incentives would contribute to green growth, nor how to avoid any of the downside risks of these plans. Environmental levies look increasingly like a straight revenue raiser. Osborne focussed instead on high carbon ticket items including…